Elastic-fluid engine.



PATBNTBD OCT. 3 0

ANo. 834,371.

H. A. DUC, Jn. BLASTIC FLUID ENGINE.

APPLIGATION FILED NOV. 23.1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

ELASTlC-FLUID ENC-HNE. r

Specification of Letters Patent. Application flied November, 1905. Serial No. 283.750.

Patexted Oct. 30, 190B.

Ton/ZZ whom t may con/corni; F Be it known that I, HENRY A. DUO, Jr., of Charleston, in the county of Charleston and State of South Carolina, have invented ce1'- tain new and useful Im rovements in Elastic-Fluid Engines; and hereby declare that the following is a.full,rclear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specication.

This 4invention is an elastic-fluid engine designed to o crate at high speed with great efiicieney an economy. The major object of this invention is to utilize the motion of the elastic liuid while passing through an expanding-tube into the revolving wheel of turbines to 'exhaust the wheel-chambers, so that the wheels will rotate inas high a vacuum as iti is possible to maintain by an induced current, and to continue the expansion of the fluid in the same direction and use its reaction while passing through the 4revolving wheels, and thereby avoid all back pressure or rcsistances, such as occur in reversing the fluid.

.Subsidiary objects of the invention are to eliminate skin friction or surface friction caused contact of steam against the Inoving parts, to so construct the parts that the main fluid flow will fo )crate to induce partial vacuum in the whee -chambers surrounding the exterior of the'wheels, and also, if desired, to assist the condenser to produce a perfectly balanced engine, and to partially oat the rotative parts on the 'iropelling fluid when used vertically, thus eliminating Ymuch of the weight Vu on the step-bearings,

and thereby increase t e elliciency of the engine.

Further objects are to obtain the full reactive ciect of the jets of fluid from the peripheries of thewheels or disks byallowing them to escape into an annular chamber or space leadin to a condenser and also to provide means vor utilizing the expansive force of steam lwhen the same is used as the propelling Huid.

The invention will bc clearly understood from the following description, in connection with the drawings forming part oi" this specification, and the features and combinations of parts for which protection is desired arfl set forth in the scvrr'ai clauses of the claim.

In the drawings, Figure l is a sectional Vconvenient manner.

elevation of an engine embodying the invention and designed to utilize the ex ansivc force of steam or like propulsiva l'lui Fig. 2 is 'a sectional end elevation of liig. 1 on line 2 2, Fig. 1 the jet-wheels. Fig. 4 is a sectional detail view of a multiple jet-wheel. Fig. 5 is it sectional view of a modification, showing a twin balanced engine; and Fig. 6 is a detail of journal. f

Referring lnore particularly to Fig. 1, A designates the casing of one of thepower or jet wheels, Vhaving'an annular chamber A', with preferably converging, but may be parallel, sides and rounded at internal and external edges, the opening or mouth of the chamber surrounding the periphery of' theV reaction-wheel B to admit the easy ingress of the `elastic fluid when slight lateral movement takes place and facilitates its outward flow. The reaction-wheel B is rotatably mounted upon an axially-disposed shaft (l. The 'said reaction-wheel is provided with equidistant jet-passages, which extend from the axis to the periphery of' the wheel, being of much greate" urea ut center thun at their peripheryv and being curved, as shown, so as to obtain the greatest reactive ell'ect from the escaping fluid. As shown in Fig. 3, there are but two such passages; but their number may be increased, provided the bnlancc of the wheel is not disturbed. The wheel is provided at center with a {luid-,inlet b', rel'ernbly formed in an elongated hub or ange b', which communicates at its outer end with a short sleeve D, having a radial llange d, by which it is secured in osition in the end of the casing A', es shown'. referably the inner end of sleeve D is tapered eXteriorly to tit in the corresponding internallytapered end of hub b2, forming a A:unical running-joint b", opening in the direction of the flow of the iluid, so that the latter will tend to induce intoy the wheel any fluid which might leak into the casing exterior to the joint.

The flaring sleeve D forms part of the steam-inlet or expanding tube and is held concentric with the runnin Ljoint b in any 'lhe seeve D in turn connu unicatcs with a (luid-supply. As shown at the right-hand side of Fig. 1, it communicales with a 'fluid-supply and injector-head E, having a main fluid-inlet e, an outlet e', and an injector-nozzle et, which connects with a Fig. 3 isa detail view of one of.

AIS

can berabsorbed without molecular displace' ment, and accordii ly no power is required to hold any amount o potential ener in osition, and likewise no energy is absdzrlned irom violent molecular movement to maintain a high tension on a space in vacua produced by the induction thereof after the space is emptied/and only a very limited amount utilized to withdrew any small leakage which ma occur. It is also well known that all s aces 'A in rapid motion surrounded by any medium the suction in lthe encounter considerable resistance, commonly known as fluid-brake, water-brake, or such. Therefore it is very important to avoid all constructions which expose any high-speed mechanism to such influence, and to obviate this difficulty those versed in turbine-work.

have endeavored as far as possible to provide means to prevent leakage into the wheel,- chambers by means of rings, close-fitting runvlling-joints, or baflle-ri c'8, Sac. I accomis the desired end in t e followingnovcl manner: The Wheel is ada ted to work as close as possible to the mouth of the chamber A', but there will necessarily be clearancespaces left at the sides of the Wheel, and to prevent accumulation of ressure .therein and conseiuent retardin s Iin friction I exv haust the eakage from t e chambers a a at the sides of the Wheel. l can accomplish this in one or more ways. As shown, these chambers a a are connected by branch pi es pwith a header p leading to ipe P, so t at latter caus by the action of the jet-head E will create a partial vacuum in the chambers a a nd obviate much of the Vfriction/'and retard effect incident to assimulation of pressure in chambers a a.

I have shown a single jet at the steam entrance connected with the wheel-chamber, but it ispossible to use two or more jets on the same inlet, so that one will aid the other to secure a higher vacuum and connect Vthe whole with a condenser of suitable construe tion. The chambers a a may also be exhaueted, if desired, by means of apertures a', lending from chambers a, into the chamber A' adjacent the periphery of the reactionwhcel and in such osition t at the escaping jets of fluid from t e reaction-wheel rushing across the mouths of the apertures' produce a parpractically the rcactionwheels are relieved. of much extraneous skin fraai ion and do not rotate enveloped by the activcililid. The jets issuing into chamber A/ will tend to lessen the friction on the periphery of the wheel. This invention can be easily applied to turbincs having` peripheral venes and can he utilized on engines nlrcad y in use with many advantages.

To show how the ex ansive force of the Huid may -be utilized, ijhave illustrated in Fig. 1 a secondl reaction-wheel, constructed and incased like the first, but of larger diameter and mounted on a prolongation of the shaft of the first wheel, similar parts difl`ering onlyin size, being similar] lettered in the drawings. The discharged uid is led from chamber A of the first engine into a globular head E (which in this case need not be a jethead) by a connecting-pipe A3, the fluid-passages being gradually enlarged to compensate for the increased volume of Huid and to allow its continuous expansion and reduce the friction` The shafts C are `ournaled in suitable bear-` ings, preferably collared so as to resist the end `thrust of the fiuid against the wheels, and

may be lubricated in any preferred manner,` the bearings and mode of lubricating them emplo ed no t forming part of present invention; ut I have indicated in the drawings a constantly-lubricated bearing, the lubricant being supplied through pipe j and drained oi through pipe j" into a receptacle F. The header p is provided with a valve pz, by which communication with pipe P may be clo'sed when desired. It is also provided with a removable cap p, so that it may be connected to any preferred form of exhaust or yto a se arator, if' desired, (not shown,) and the e aust from the second or final 'lowpressure wheel may be 'connected so as to open to the atmosphere or lead to a condenser in the usual manner.

As shown in Fig. 4, the reaction-wheel is pr vided with a series of parallel jet-apertures b, all communicating with acommon` central chamber, so that lhuid may be admitted at both sides of such wheel, so as to obviate any end thrust on its bearings.

As shown in Fig. 5, two equalsized reaction-wheels are mounted in adjacent similar castings communicating with the adjacent reaction-wheel `passages and also having a double actor-nozzle e, communicating by a IOS pipe P with a header p, the parts being othcrtial vacuum therein and act somewhat like n pipe l and exhaust the wheel-cha1nbers a a "25 exhausts to empty the chambers a. Thus and continuously remove any leakage that oeeurrl, so that, the reaction-wheels een rotrite with verv lit-tie [luid-brake fiction while expanding onward into und rot-ating reactionwheel and flowing from the jets eireunllerentinlly over, the apertures a o intc'i'lli'e annular eXpending-chamber A', creating jet action to eid in removin(r leakage between running-joints, and after rbeing whirled into the annular chamber A ity passes through m expanding-pipe A3 to the second reactionwheel on imparts further rotative energy thereto and is finallydischarged. Pipe P is provided with drip P," suitably closed or connected with any connnon regulatin' de-` vice :ind otr'vnlve.Y Tank li is used to rain the lubricant ir :my of the well-known Ways as it flows in` from the tube h. l

The eonstruetionsihown in Fig. 1 can operate with greet ndvanta e if arrangedverti- 2o cally witha jet or jet- Yeednfthe bottom 'and provided 'with conical.v journals and ai parti '-bulineed step-bemin", ortshe shaft, andwhen s eombined, suspended from the end of a fulcrurned level-lor 'eeuu @balanced by n z5 spring or equivalent, having a. detrusive resistanee equal to th vertical loadnf' the'Y the wheelS'and'Shaft minus `the 1i vvsird pre's" sure 'of the'inflowingelastic Hui als the es'- icoping fluid issuing at the periphery equally 3o, at opposite points, producing no unc-quill lut.-

eral appliention of energ vi'ill reuse the.'A wheels and shaft combine to spin lilcev top and rotatenb'eut the true enter ol'gravit ot' the revolving wheels and shaft, combine ,i 3 5 embraced in the issuing steamor elastie fluid,prnctieiillyrequiring no lateral support., und since the upward pressure olf t heinilowl ing stemnor iluidplus' the lifting power'of A thebpring or its equivalent `vill litt. the. shaft, -4o and wheels to their working position and raise the eonirnl ournnls ofthe shul'tsutlieiently to leave `their absolute eontaet with the annie-'nl surfaces of their lateral supports-,Q so thn. practically the wheels und shaft, will run almost friction on the upwardtlowing steam or elastic luid,' requiring little. or no luhrieunt, the Stemnor'elustic lluid being utilized in thi" arrangement, tirst-, to remove fluid-brake notion; Seeondly, toeoun- 5o terbulunee mueh ol the step-load und, thirdly7 for reflui-ing the journnl l'rietion, :ind it een assist in operating the e'indenmr when so dexired.

Obviously thel fornn: of the earnings muy he vnried und eonstrueted with elmmherfv lendingr from the outer annular elnnnher A' tothe (rentrnl inlet iot' the otheiyso :is to die-pense with pipe A, :ind :my number ol' rem'tionwheel easing-"could beseetu nl togotherwith- Win'thg; seope of thi:-l inventionJ it. beingr onliV :i i mutter ol" eonvenienee und enst. l llztving thnmleseri'bod inv invention, what l oluitn :is new, :ind desire to set-ure h l.et- 5 tem lutent, i+- l. lu u turhino-engine, :L reuclion--.\heel und nn inflosing expunding-elnnnher into which the tluid esenpes from the wheel und u jet-head dischargingr axially into the wheel.

12. ln n turbine-engine, the eomhinution nl au annuler expanding-elmmler having n eon- 7o tinuously open mouth or inlet around it in ner periphery; with :i renrtion-wheel titledto rotito within the mouth of the nnnnlnr elunnber und having peripheral iet-openings, and n jet-hond diselnirging elnstie lluid nxiall)v into Seid reuetion-wluel.

3. In n turbine-engine, n renetion-wheel, nnd nn inclosing exprnding-elnnnber into which the tluid escapes from the wheel, und means for removing pren-ure :1t the sides ot 8o 'the reaction-wheel.

4'. In u turbine-engine, the combination ol' an annular expanding-ehnmber having ein open mouth or inletJ around its inner periphery; with n reuetion-wheel fitted to rotate Within the mouth off' the nnnulur 4ehnmber and having peri liernljet-openings, menus for introducing e nstie luid nxiullj' `into snidrenction-wheel;` und' menns for ereutingg` :i purtiul vneuum in the easing around Suid 9o wiriecl'nnd outside the expnntling-chumbei', substnntiollyns deseribed.' i

' 5; In n turbine-engine, 'an expandingehnmljerhaving 'un outlet, und un-nnuulznv month, :t reaction-wheel disposed nxinllj.' el"y 95 SuidAelurmberwith its periphery Cloning the mouth thereof, Suid' rezletiion-wheel having :i

lventral luid-reeeivingelnunber', und yequidis- :tinnt'rndinting jet-passages op. ningr intiythe expanding-ehnmber nt the' peripheryfof thin non wheel, and ii-jet-hend l'or introducing elnstie Huid axinllv'into the. wheel;subst-nntinllyns described.;

6. ln :L turbino-engine7 :in expandingelmntber'linving nn'outletr und un nnnulur :o5 mouth, und n reitetion-wheel disposed nxiull) of Huid eluunher with its peri,-lier v ehn-ing the-mouth thereol'jsuid reitetion-wheel lluvying n central [luid-receiving eluunber, Yund efptidistunt rudinting jet-passages opening im into the expontling-elnunlwr :it the peripher)V ol'V the' whlel,l with 'nitflns for introdueing. elnstio fluid into the wheely (-.omprisinig un ojeetfor-hend, co neeted with the. {luid-snpply, und with the vacuum-rhumber or eon- :i5 denser. v

7. In :L turbine-engine, the combination ol nn exporiding-chmulier, n. rene-Litn-wheel loonled uxinll)v of und dir-'elmrging into '-.tid eimnilier, und :m injertor-hezul l'or .-tppiyng izo lh Ad tonnid renrtion-wheel; with tnennst :nneeted with und operated by r-'nid injectoryheaul for exhausting pressure from the sides .u mixing lntvingr in nnnuln.,l ex|mnding-eluunally the mouth thereof, and provided with a central receiving-chamber and equidistant radially-dis osed Huid-passages dischar ing tangentia y into said expansion-cham er, and a jet-head ada ted to discharge [luid axially into said whee 9. In a turbine-engine, the combination of a casing having an annular'ex andin -chamber provided with an interna ann ar open mouth, a reaction-wheel located axially of said chamber with its periphery closin the mouth thereof and ada ted to disc arge Huid tangentially into sai chamber; with an injector-headfor directing Huid into\ said reaction-wheel, and means to relieve pressure or skin friction on the wheel,substantially as described.

10. In a turbine-engine, the combination of a plurality of expanding-chambers, a reaction-wheel for each chamber located axithereof and discharging thereinto, and jet-heads directing fluid actionwheel.

11. In a turbine-engine, the combination of a plurality of annular expanding-chambers, each having an internal open mouth, a reaction-wheel mounted to rotate axially of each expansion-chamber with its periaher closing t emouth thereof, and provide wit a central receiving-chamber and equidistant radially-disposed uid-passages discharging tanglentially into such ex ansion-oham er, jeteads for directingui axially into the several wheels; and means for conducting partly-expanded Huid from the first expansion-chamber to the next-'wheel jet-head, substantially as set forth. I

12. In a turbine-engine, the combination of a plurality of annular expanding-cham-- bers, each ha an interna annular open mouth, a Acylindrical 'reaction-wheel located axially of each Achamber with its eriphery closing the mouth thereof and a apted to discharge iuid thereinto; with an injectorhead for directing fluid successively to said reaction-Wheels, and suction-pipes connected axially into each re-A with said head and with the wheel-chambers to relieve pressure or skin friction onthe Wheels, substantially as described.

i- 13.- In a turbine-engine, the combination 5o of thecasing having an annular expansionchamber, and a centralWheel-chamber, a reaction-wheel mounted axially of said chamber and provided with internal radially-,disposed equidistant jet-passages adapted to discharge fluid tan entially into said expansion-chamber; wit an injector-head connected with the fluid-supply adapted to dred-t fluid into said wheel; a suction-pipe connected with said head, and pipes connecting 6o said suctionipe with the wheel-chamber exterior to t e wheel, for the purpose and substantially as described. A

14. In a turbie1engine,the combination of a plurality ofF annular expansion-cha'm- 65 bers, a. reactionheel mounted axially in each chamber and provided with internal iradially displosed equidistant jet passages ada ted to sai `scharge iiuid tangentially into expansionschamber; with an 1njector-7o head connected with the fluid-supply and adapted to direct uid into the first wheel for directing partly -ex anded iiui from the iirst expansion-cham er into 'the next Wheel, a suction-pipe connected with .'15 said head and pipes connecting said suctionpi e with the wheelhambers exterior to the' w eel, for the .purpose and substantially as described.

15. In a. turbine-ergine, the combination 8o of a reactionvvheel, a uid-passage leading to said WheelI and connections whereby -the 'flowing fluid creates a artal vacuum around the inactive parts of t e wheel.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I aflixmy signature in presence of two witnesses. 4

HENRY A. DUC, JR.

In presence of- Anrmm' E. rDovvnLL, LrnLmN E. Wrrnau. 

